Methods and systems for detecting objects by non-visible radio frequencies and displaying associated augmented reality effects

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for detecting and identifying one or more objects in the vicinity using radio frequency signals, excluding visible spectrum frequencies, (the “non-visible RF signals”) and displaying an AR image with an AR element associated with each of the one or more identified objects are disclosed. An exemplary method includes the steps of: detecting and registering one or more objects in the vicinity of a mobile device by non-visible RF signals; tracking the registered objects; rendering the AR elements associated with the registered objects; and displaying an AR image with the AR elements anchored to the associated objects in the visual scan area of the mobile device. This embodiment may further include a step of rendering a special kind of AR elements, called LARI AR elements, that includes a boundary and a cut-out area, and the associated AR effect rendered is limited to the area in the boundary but excluding the cut-out area. As such, in this embodiment, the object with a LARI AR element would appear entirely or partially framed by the AR element in the AR image.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to the co-pending United Statesprovisional patent application, entitled “RF Activated and Anchored ARDisplay System (RFARDS),” having Ser. No. 62/661,015, filed on Apr. 22,2018, which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Existing Augmented Reality (“AR”) imaging systems are limited in theirabilities to recognize objects or render AR elements associated with theobjects at precise locations when the objects are not fully captured bya camera. Many of the existing systems recognize objects by analyzingthe image of the object. In such system, when the object is blocked fromview or when some key features of the object are lacking in the object'simage, the system cannot recognize it, let alone rendering the desiredAR element(s) of the object at a designated location. As such, suchsystems cannot be used to render AR elements of some remote objects,such as a stage in a concert where the audience in the far back don'talways have a clear view of the entire stage.

Furthermore, for AR elements that are displayed as a frame or abackground of an object, existing AR systems are limited in renderingsuch AR elements based on the predetermined shapes and dimensions of theAR elements or the edge(s) of the object. Frame-like AR elements offixed shapes and dimensions are boring since they are merelysuperimposed on the image of the object. Even if the system can detectthe edge(s) of the object, such determination is generally based onimage processing techniques. Again, once the object is not fullycaptured by the camera, the edges) of the object cannot be determined,and the AR system would not be able to properly render this kind of ARelement(s).

Therefore, it is desired to have a method or system configured toidentify one or more objects even when some of the objects are entirelyor partially hidden from view.

It is also desired to have a method or system configured to render an ARelement with a cut-out/see-through area that is determined based on thecharacteristics of an object, rather than the properties of the ARelement.

SUMMARY

The structure, overall operation and technical characteristics of thepresent invention will become apparent with the detailed description ofpreferred embodiments and the illustration of the related drawings asfollow.

The invention is incorporated in methods for detecting and identifyingone or more objects in the vicinity using radio frequency signals,excluding visible spectrum Inventors: Robert J. Gold & Joan Buenofrequencies, (the “non-visible RF signals”) and displaying an AR imagewith an AR element associated with each of the one or more identifiedobjects, and systems implementing such methods.

Methods for Detecting Objects and Displaying the Objects with TheirAssociated AR Effects

A preferred embodiment is a method comprising steps of:

-   -   Step 1: detecting and registering one or more objects located        within a vicinity of a mobile device, using one or more        transceivers of the mobile device configured to communicate with        the objects by non-visible RF signals.    -   Step 2: tracking a relative location of each of the registered        objects located within a vicinity of the mobile device, relative        to the mobile device.    -   Step 3: generating in real time an AR element of each of the        objects with an AR type as Large-AR-Image (LARI) and located        inside a visual scan area by:        -   Step 3.1: determining a boundary of the AR element, the            boundary configured to surround a real-world image of the            object.        -   Step 3.2: determining a cut-out/see-through area within the            boundary, the cut-out area configured to show a            predetermined portion of the real-world image of the object.        -   Step 3.3: rendering an AR effect within the boundary,            excluding the cut-out area, the AR effect scaled and            oriented based on the relative location and an orientation            of the object.    -   Step 4: generating in real time the AR element of each of the        objects with the non-LARI AR type and located inside the visual        scan area.    -   Step 5: displaying the AR image rendered with the AR element        anchored to each of the objects located inside the visual scan        area.

This preferred embodiment is configured to identify objects nearby, byone or more transceivers of the mobile device communicating with theobjects by non-visible RF signals (Step 1). Various technologies may beadopted for communicating with, and identifying, the objects, includingBluetooth, Radio-frequency identification (RFID), RF transmissions, Nearfield communication (NFC), Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks (MWSNs),Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), cloudrelay systems, peer-to-peer ad hoc messaging networking mode, analog anddigital beacons, GPS, and any suitable wireless communication protocolsknown to the art.

Since this embodiment uses non-visible RF signals, it can detect allobjects capable of communicating by non-visible RF signals nearby,including objects hidden from view. If an object is identified, thisembodiment registers the object, locally at the mobile device orremotely at a server (Step 1) and continuously tracks where the objectis, relative to the mobile device (Step 2). Alternatively, the preferredembodiment may be configured to register only the detected objects inthe visual scan area in Step 1 to save memory.

The embodiment may be configured to determine the relative location ofan object (Step 2) by any suitable methods, such as trilateration,triangulation, or calculating by the known locations of the object andthe mobile device in a specific reference system, obtained from GPSsatellites or any locating server, such as a real-time locating systemor a beacon tracking system. Trilateration or triangulation can be usedin an embodiment to determine the location of an object (Objects) byreference to other objects with known locations (the “referenceobjects”). An exemplary embodiment may determine the distance betweenthe mobile device and Object₁ (Distances) by measuring the response timeof Object₁ in any corresponding communications—beginning from the timethe mobile device transmitting any inquiry in a non-visible RF signal toObject₁ and ending at the time the mobile device receives a reply in thenon-visible RF signal from Object₁ (assuming that the time forprocessing the inquiry and the reply can be ignored). In fact, suchcommunications are directional. Through the communications between themobile device and Object₁, the embodiment may determine from whichdirection the reply of Object₁ comes from.

Similarly, with the coordinates of the reference objects known and thedistances between the mobile device and the reference objects and thedirections of the replies from the reference objects determined by theaforementioned way, the embodiment may be configured to determine thelocation of Object₁ by the distances and the angles between thedirections that the respective replies by Object₁ and the referenceobjects come from. The formula of trilateration and triangulation arewell known in the art. A simplified 2-dimensional example is illustratedbelow:

In an embodiment, the mobile device's coordinate is (0, 0) in aCartesian coordinate system and the coordinate of a reference objectObject_(r) is (X_(r), Y_(r)). When the distance between the mobiledevice and Object₁ is D₁, and the angels between the responses fromObject₁ and Object_(r) is Θ, the coordinate of Object₁ (X₁, Y₁) can bedetermined as below:

${X_{1} = {D_{1}*{\cos \left( {\Theta + {\tan^{- 1}\frac{Yr}{Xr}}} \right)}}};{and}$$Y_{1} = {D_{1}*{{\sin \left( {\Theta + {\tan^{- 1}\frac{Yr}{Xr}}} \right)}.}}$

Since non-visible RF signals are often reflected, refracted, diffracted,and/or scattered, the distances and the directions the reply signals arefrom may not be always correct. It is thus preferred that an embodimentis configured to use more reference objects and/or adopt more than onelocating methods, such as trilateration and triangulation together, toget a more accurate result.

Furthermore, this preferred embodiment only renders the AR elements,associated with the objects, detected and registered in Step 1, that arelocated inside the visual scan area, into the AR image, in Steps 3-5. Inan alternate embodiment, depending on the usage and settings, theembodiment may be configured to also render the AR elements of theobjects located outside, but near the borders of, the visual scan areaor display an indication, such as an arrow or a star, to show that thereare other detected objects outside of the visual scan area.

The visual scan area here refers to not only an area captured by thecamera and shown in the display of the mobile device but may alsoinclude an area that is in the same general direction but not capturedby the camera, yet within the detectable range of the non-visible RFsignals. That is, since the objects are detected by non-visible RFsignals, this embodiment can spot the objects located in the visual scanarea, even those hidden from view, such as being hidden partially orentirely by other objects or building, limited only by the range of thenon-visible RF signals.

For every registered object located inside a visual scan area, thispreferred embodiment uses an attribute, called AR type, to determinewhat kind of AR element to associate with the object—being LARI or notLARI (non-LARI) in Steps 3-4. When the AR type of the AR elementassociated with an object is LARI, in this embodiment, the object's ARelement is an AR effect surrounding the object like a frame, whendisplayed on the display of the mobile, within a boundary, but outsidethe cut-out area where the object's image is shown, entirely orpartially, on the display (Step 3).

The AR type and the AR effect of an object in an embodiment arepreferably configurable by a user via a user interface. In an embodimentwhere an object can be associated with multiple AR elements, the ARelements associated with the same object may have different AR types(some LARI and others non-LARI), while in another embodiment with anobject associated with multiple AR elements, all the AR elementsassociated with the object may be required to have the same ARtype—either LARI or non-LARI, but not both. Also, an embodiment may beconfigured to render either LARI-type AR element or non-LARI-type ARelement only (i.e. Step 3 or 4 may be omitted).

In an exemplary embodiment where Step 3 is adopted, at least one ofSteps 3.1 and 3.2 is preferred to use one or more transmission broadcastunits (“TBUs”) to provide at least one reference points of the boundaryor cut-out area by communicating with the mobile device via non-visibleRF signals. For instance, an object associated with a LARI-type ARelement in an embodiment may be surrounded by multiple TBUs configuredto define a virtual periphery of the object that corresponds to thecut-out area of the AR element on the AR image. In this embodiment, themobile device is configured to determine the cut-out area of the ARelement by finding the responsive locations of the TBUs in the AR imageand connecting the dots by any known methods, such as drawing a straightline or a curve line between each pair of adjacent dots.

In an alternate embodiment, the cut-out area of an LARI AR element maybe determined based on: (1) a predetermined shape of the cut-out area;(2) known locations of multiple TBUs relative to the object's virtualperiphery (i.e. the “role” of each TBU); (4) the distances between themobile device and each TBU; and (4) the coordinates of the TBUs in areference coordinate system. For instance, the AR element of a LARI-typeobject in an embodiment may be known to have a rectangular cut-out area,i.e. a rectangular periphery, and three TBUs, say TBU₁, TBU₂, and TBU₃,respectively located at the top left, bottom left, and the bottom rightcorners of the virtual periphery. That is, the “role” of TBU₁ is theindicator of the top left corner, the “role” of TBU₂ is the indicator ofthe bottom left corner, and so on. With the roles and coordinates ofTBU₁, TBU₂, and TBU₃ known, the distances between each pair of the TBUsand the entire virtual periphery can be determined. In addition, withthe distances between the mobile device and each of the 3 TBUsdetermined as discussed above, the embodiment may in turn determine thelocations/coordinates of the mobile device by trilateration and/ortriangulation. As the virtual periphery of the LARI-type object isknown, the embodiment may determine the cut-out area of the AR element.In addition, with the cut-out area now known, the embodiment may alsodetermine the relative orientation of the object based on the relativeorientation of the cut-out area if they are known to be the same.

This embodiment may also be configured to construct the cut-out area ofanother LARI-type AR element if the cut-out area/periphery is known tobe a circle, and at least three TBUs on the periphery, i.e.circumference, or two TBUs on the circumference and one TBU at thecenter of the circle periphery. Similarly, as long as the equation ofthe virtual periphery of an LARI-type AR element and enough TBUs withknown coordinates and roles are provided, this embodiment can beconfigured to determine the coordinate of the mobile device, i.e. therelative locations of the TBUs, and consequently the virtual peripheryand the cut-out area.

Furthermore, an embodiment may be configured to determine the boundaryof an LARI AR element based on: (1) a predetermined shape of theboundary; (2) known roles of multiple TBUs for the boundary; (3) adistance between the mobile device and each TBUs; and (4) thecoordinates of the TBUs, just like the way a cut-out area can bedetermined as stated above. Alternatively, an embodiment may beconfigured to determine the boundary of an LARI AR element based on apredetermined equation(s) of the boundary in reference to the multipleTBUs for the cut-out area. For instance, if a LARI-type AR element has asquare cut-out area known or determined in a method stated above, andthe corresponding boundary are known to have edges parallel to those ofthe cut-out area with a predetermined distance between each pair ofcorresponding edges of the boundary and the cut-out area, the embodimentwould be able to determine the boundary of the AR element on the ARimage.

In addition, in Step 3, the AR effect is preferably scaled and orientedaccording to the relative location and the orientation of the object.That is, depending on the attributes of the registered object (or itsassociated AR element(s)) or the settings of the embodiment, the LARI ARelement of the object may become larger or smaller when the object movescloser or farther from the mobile device, preferably in proportion tothe change in the size of the object's image in the display. (Note thatthe movements of the object discussed here are relative to the mobiledevice. Any relative movements might be caused by the mobile device, theobject, or both.)

Furthermore, the LARI-type AR element of the object in this embodimentmay rotate in a predetermined way when the object rotates. For instance,for an AR element whose AR type is LARI and the AR effect is ananimation of flames or bubbles, the AR element in this embodiment mayinclude flames or bubbles surrounding the associated object in itsboundary, excluding the cut-out area. When the associated objectrotates, the boundary and cut-out area of its AR element in thisembodiment may be configured to rotate with the object. But based on thesettings of the embodiment, the animated flames or bubbles of the ARelement in this embodiment may have their own pattern in response to thedetected rotation of the object, such as rotating only horizontally butnot vertically (i.e., flames/bubbles always going up) to be morerealistic.

As to the objects associated with AR elements with non-LARI AR type, asin Step 4, the object's AR element in this embodiment may be in the formof an icon, a text, an image, a video clip, a URL, or a thought bubble,placed at a location in the AR image based on the attribute(s) of theobject and/or the settings of the embodiment. The non-LARI AR element inthis embodiment may include various information associated with theobject, such as a current status, a commercial, a social media profilepicture, a link to a social media profile, a product information of theassociated object, a product endorsed by the associated object (aperson), a sponsor information, and so forth, determined based on theattributes of the objects and/or the settings of the embodiment.

For instance, an embodiment used in a trade show may display the role(an attribute) of each registered attendee, in the form of an icon alongwith a link to the attendee's profile (another attribute). The role inthis example may include a buyer, a seller, and staff of the trade show.The role, the link, and/or the profile of every attendee in thisexemplary embodiment may be stored in each attendee's badge with an RFIDin it or at a remote database accessible by the mobile device based on aunique ID of the attendee stored in the RFID on the badge. If a user ofthe mobile device in this exemplary embodiment wants to find certainbuyers nearby, he/she can click at the icon of a buyer and the linkwould bring up a second AR element or a pop-up window, showing thebuyer's profile. Alternatively, the attendee's profile may be retrievedfrom a remote site, such as the attendee's company website, and the linkmay be configured to trigger the embodiment to bring up a browser toshow this information.

Moreover, the AR elements of the objects in the visual scan area arepreferably anchored to the objects in the AR image in this embodiment inStep 5. The AR image in this embodiment is an image captured in realtime by the camera, with the AR elements superimposed on the image nearor partially overlapping the associated objects. As stated above, theLARI AR element of an object of this embodiment is always surroundingthe object like a frame, even when the relative location of the objectchanges. The non-LARI AR elements in this embodiment are also preferablyconfigured to move with the associated objects. For instance, in anembodiment, when a registered object in the visual scan area is a cellphone in a person's pocket, and the associated AR element is a thoughtbubble showing the person's status, such as the person's latest Tweet onTwitter™ or an emoji of that person choice, the AR element preferably isshown above the person's head in the AR image and moves with the personif the person is walking away or moving in a vehicle.

Additionally, various alterations in implementations and/or omissions ofthe steps above can be adopted. An embodiment is preferably configuredto detect and register multiple objects (Step 1) in batches. Such anexemplary embodiment may be configured to:

-   -   1. simultaneously scan a batch of the objects located within the        vicinity of the mobile device, by the one or more transceivers:        -   a. broadcasting a single request of a unique identification            (ID) by non-visible RF signals; and        -   b. receiving an ID of each of the objects by the non-visible            RF signals,    -   2. if the ID of an object is not registered in the storage        component of the mobile device (such as an internal memory, a        NAND flash memory, a micro SD card, or a cloud drive), include        the object as a member object of the batch until reaching a        predetermined size of the batch, and    -   3. after the batch of unregistered objects are identified,        register each member object of the batch by saving the ID and        the relative location of the member object to the storage        component (the relative location determined by any of the        methods stated above).

For instance, an embodiment in which the mobile device and the objectscommunicate with Bluetooth signals may detect the objects by: the mobiledevice sending out an inquiry request to try to discover the objects,and the objects listening to such inquiry and responding with theiraddresses, i.e. unique IDs (and optionally, names, types of the objects,and other information). While the embodiment is scanning the objects, italso measures the response time of each responding object. In thisexemplary embodiment, the size of a batch is 5, and the embodiment isconfigured to group the first 5 unregistered objects as a batch and savethe ID and the relative location of each of the member object to thestorage component of the mobile device. In this embodiment, the relativelocations of the objects are determined based on the respective responsetime and directions of the responding signals, preferably bytrilateration and triangulation as illustrated above. This embodimentmay additionally register other information of the objects when theconnections between the mobile device and the objects are formed at thisstep.

Furthermore, for an embodiment configured to track the relativelocations of all registered objects, as in Step 2 above, if the relativelocation of a registered object has been outside the visual scan areafor at least a predetermined period of time, such as 2 seconds or 3minutes, the embodiment may be configured to remove this object from thestorage component and stop tracking it to save resources. In suchembodiment, if the object reappears in the visual scan area, theembodiment is simply configured to treat it like a newly detectedobject.

Moreover, an embodiment may allow the user of the mobile device todiscriminate among, or filter out, some detected objects. That is, ifthe user only wants to see objects with certain attributes, such asbuyers in a trade show, single males between the age of 25 to 35, or theuser's friends on a social media platform, the embodiment may provide auser interface for the user to choose or enter the one or more criteria(i.e., “discriminators”), and only generate the AR element of each ofthe objects that meet the one or more criteria. Based on the variousimplementations of the embodiment, the one or more attributes of anobject may be stored locally at the object, such as an RFID's or a cellphone's memory chips, or remotely, such as the object's associatedprofile at the social media server(s). For information stored locally atthe objects, the embodiment is configured to retrieve the attributesdirectly from the objects via non-visible RF signals.

Similarly, the objects in an embodiment may discriminate among mobiledevices too. In an embodiment, the one or more objects may be configuredto always provide the attributes requested by the mobile device, whilein another embodiment, the objects may be configured to respond to suchrequests only if the mobile device also meets certain requirements. Forinstance, in an embodiment in a hospital, the objects, such as the RFIDsevery patient carries, may be configured to always respond to thehospital security's mobile device's requests. But in an embodiment forsocial networking, the objects, such as cell phones of Facebook™ users,may allow the users of the objects to block requests from the mobiledevices of those users that they are not friends with or stop respondingto any requests at a certain time, such as in a meeting or after 10 pmevery day.

Additionally, an embodiment may further comprise the step of:authenticating a user privilege; and if authenticated, only registering,tracking, and rendering AR elements (Steps 1-5) associated with theobjects whose IDs are recorded in a database. Such an embodiment may beused for recovering lost assets (objects) by the law enforcement orinsurance investigators when they patrol on the street with their mobiledevices. In this embodiment, each object includes a locator, such as aRFID or any commercially available tracker, attached when the object ismanufactured or when the owner subscribes to a loss recovery service. Itis preferred that only the mobile devices used by an authenticated user,such as law enforcement officer or an insurance investigator, canactivate this embodiment. Once the user is authenticated, preferably bya remote server running the loss recovery service, the embodiment isconfigured to detect objects in the vicinity of the mobile device, usingnon-visible RF signals, and then match the ID of every object detectedwith the IDs of the lost objects reported and stored at either a remotedatabase or a local memory.

When one or more lost objects are detected, the embodiment is configuredto register, track, and render AR elements associated with these lostobjects, such as thought bubbles showing the ID and a description ofeach registered lost object, an icon showing the type of the registeredlost object, and/or an arrow pointing to that object. In thisembodiment, when a lost object, not located in the visual scan area, isdetected, it is preferred that this object is still registered andtracked, with an AR element showing an arrow pointing to an edge of theAR image closer to object. This embodiment may be configured to providea user interface for recording the lost objects in the database by thelaw enforcement or the owners who subscribe to the loss recoveryservice, for free or with a subscription fee. Additionally, thisembodiment may be further configured to save the locations of thedetected lost objects, such as GPS coordinates, at the database.

As indicated above, an AR element of an object in an embodiment may bedetermined based on the attribute(s) of the object. For instance, anembodiment may show one or more of an ID, a nickname, a title, an icon,an image, a 2D or 3D visual effect, a URL, or the latest post on asocial media profile such as Facebook®, Twitter®, or Instagram®, thatis/are associated with the object, as the AR element. In suchembodiment, an object may have multiple associated AR elements, and theAR element of the same object displayed on an AR image may be differentat a different time. For instance, an object in an embodiment may have apredetermined setting regarding when to present which AR element, suchas an emoji during the day and another emoji at night, a title of theuser during the weekdays and a nickname during the weekends, a visualeffect for 7-8 pm and another visual effect for 8-9 pm, and so forth.

Finally, an AR element in an embodiment is preferably anchored to theassociated object based on the attributes) of the objects and scaled andoriented based on the relative location and an orientation of theobject. For instance, in such an embodiment, the visual effect of anobject preferably moves and becomes larger/smaller when relativelyspeaking, the object is moving closer/farther to/from the mobile device.Similarly, in this embodiment, the visual effect of the objectpreferably changes its direction and/or orientation according to therelative change in the object's direction and/or orientation.

Apparatus for Detecting Objects and Displaying the Objects with TheirAssociated AR Effects

Another preferred embodiment is a mobile device that includes an objectregistering module, an object tracking module, and an AR renderingmodule. The preferred embodiment may be a cell phone, a tablet, aportable game console, a head-mounted displaying device, and so forth.

The object registering module of this preferred embodiment is configuredto repeatedly detect, by one or more sensors/transceivers of non-visibleRF signals, one or more objects located within a vicinity of theembodiment, one by one or in a batch, and register the detected objectsto a database, as in Step 1 of the embodiment illustrated above. Theobject tracking module of this preferred embodiment is configured torepeatedly track a location of each of the objects located within avicinity of the mobile device, relative to the mobile device, as in Step2 of the aforesaid embodiment. This embodiment may be configured toadopt triangulation, trilateration, GPS locating, real-time locating,beacon tracking system, and/or any suitable locating methods known inthe art.

As to the AR rendering module of this preferred embodiment, like inSteps 3-5 of the first preferred embodiment, it is configured togenerating in real time an AR element of each of the objects locatedinside a visual scan area and show the AR image rendered with the ARelement anchored to each of the objects located inside the visual scanarea on a display of the embodiment. As in the first preferredembodiment, each object of this preferred embodiment has an AR type,which is either LARI or non-LARI. For the objects with an LARI AR type,the AR rendering module of this embodiment too would only render an AReffect in a predetermined area: between a cut-out area and a boundary,at least one of which is defined entirely or partially by TBUs.

In an alternate embodiment, the mobile device may be configured to onlyrender LARI AR elements and not non-LARI AR elements, or vice versa. Inyet another embodiment, some TBUs may be used as reference points for acut-out area and a boundary for an AR element of an object at the sametime, i.e. a periphery of the cut-out area and that of the boundary meetat the TBUs, such as a sunflower shaped AR element with the boundarybeing the ray florets portion and the cut-out area being the diskflorets portion. In an embodiment where an object may be associated withmultiple LARI AR elements, some TBUs may be used by more than one LARIAR element to define the boundaries and/or the cut-out areas

One object of this invention is to provide a method, apparatus, orsystem for rendering a LARI AR element in a boundary that issurrounding, partially or entirely, the associated object and has atleast one see-through cut-out area.

Another object of this invention is to provide a method, apparatus, orsystem for rendering AR elements associated with objects, visible orhidden, in the vicinity of a mobile device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a photographic representation of a first embodiment with amobile device rendering LARI visual effects within the boundary,excluding the cut-out area, of the AR element of an object (the stage)on the display of the mobile device.

FIGS. 2A & 2B show a second embodiment configured to render and displaythe AR element of an object in an environment (a stage in a concert) ona display of a mobile device, the boundary and the cut-out area of theLARI AR element being projected as they would appear on the display.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of the environment (the concert) for thesecond embodiment, with the LARI visual effects and the object (stage)presented as they would be shown on the display.

FIG. 4 shows another schematic view of the second embodiment, with thedistances between the mobile device and the TBUs at the bottom of theprojected boundary of the stage's AR element shown.

FIG. 5 shows another schematic view of the second embodiment, with thedistances between the mobile device and two TBUs at the periphery of theprojected cut-out area of the stage's AR element shown.

FIGS. 6A-6B show exemplary flow charts of some steps implemented in thesecond embodiment.

FIG. 7 shows a photographic representation of a third embodiment with amobile device rendering LARI visual effects within the boundary,excluding the cut-out area, of the AR element of an object (the guitar)on the display of the mobile device.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic view of an embodiment with a mobile device,configured to locate and track the location of an object by referring tothe locations of other objects.

FIG. 9 shows a schematic view of another embodiment with a mobiledevice, configured to locate and track the location of an object byreferring to a grid of radio beacon stations.

FIGS. 10 & 11 show schematic views of an embodiment with a mobiledevice, configured to track multiple objects and render an AR image withAR elements anchored to the associated objects.

FIGS. 12-13 show a schematic view of the embodiment in FIGS. 10-11 inwhich the mobile device is further configured to track multiple objectsin batches and a representation of the data structures of theinformation associated with the registered/tracked objects in thisembodiment.

FIGS. 14-19 show alternate schematic views of the embodiment in FIGS.10-13 and representations of the data structures of the informationassociated with the registered/tracked objects in different states.

FIGS. 20-24 show schematic views of an embodiment and its variousfeatures.

FIG. 25 shows a diagrammatic view of an embodiment with a mobile deviceconfigured to track another device using interlaced searching.

FIGS. 26-29 show various schematic views of an embodiment for propertyrecovery.

FIGS. 30A-C show schematic views of an embodiment for various rescuescenarios.

FIGS. 31A-C show a schematic view of an embodiment for monitoringpatients' conditions.

FIG. 32 shows a schematic view of an embodiment for monitoring thewhereabouts of all personnel in a facility.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Several embodiments are illustrated in FIGS. 1-32. An exemplaryembodiment 1 is shown in FIG. 1 with a mobile device 2 rendering anddisplaying an AR image with real-world objects captured by its camera(not shown) and an AR element 31′ around the image 3′ of the stage 3.The AR element 31′ of this embodiment 1, shown in FIG. 1, is a3-dimensional (3D) large AR image (LARI). In alternate embodiments, anAR element can be a still image, a changing still image, or animatedmotion capable AR content. In this embodiment 1, the AR element 31′associated with the stage 3 is determined by either the audio videooperator, the venue operator, the band management, or the band members,and may be changed any time (in real time or at a pre-determined timedsequence).

FIGS. 2-6 show a similar embodiment, the preferred embodiment 10, thatcomprises a mobile device 1100 with an object registering module 1110,an object tracking module 1120, and an AR rendering module 1130, andmultiple non-visible RF signal Transmission Broadcast Units (TBUs) 1200configured to provide reference points for the mobile device 1100 toidentify the projected boundary 1310 and the projected cut-out area 1320and render a LARI AR element of an object (the stage) 1300, inside theboundary 1310′, with the image of the stage 1300 partially seen throughthe cut-out area 1320′.

The object registering module 1110 of this preferred embodiment 10 isconfigured to identify the stage 1300 by one or more transceivers 1150of the mobile device 1100 and communicate with the stage 1300 bynon-visible RF signals (see, e.g., Step 1510 in FIG. 6A). Asaforementioned, various wireless technologies using non-visible RFsignals may be adopted for the object registering module 1110 toidentify and communicate with an object (the stage 300 here). The rangesof non-visible RF signals are limited, and thus it is preferred that theembodiment 10 adopts suitable non-visible RF signals according to theproperties, such as the dimensions, of the concert stadium or site 1400for the best results in terms of the quality of communications betweenthe mobile device 1100 and the stage 1300 or the TBUs 1200 wherever themobile device is in the stadium or site 1400. In this preferredembodiment 10, the object registering module 1110 is configured tocommunicate with the stage 1300 and the TBUs 1200 by Bluetooth beacontransmissions in a small park 1400.

In an embodiment, an object with a LARI AR element may include along-distance RFID or a device configured to communicate with a mobiledevice, and the RFID/device may or may not be one of the TBUs. In thisembodiment 10, the stage 1300 is configured to use one of the TBUs (1200f) to provide its ID and other attributes to the mobile device 1100.Once the object registering module 1110 finds the stage 1300, the objectregistering module 1110 registers the stage 1300 at the memory of themobile device 1100 (see, e.g., Step 1510) and the object tracking module1120 continuously tracks where the stage 1300 is, relative to the mobiledevice 1100 (see, e.g., Step 1520). In this embodiment 10, the objecttracking module 1120 preferably tracks the relative location of thestage 1300 by trilateration and triangulation with at least three of theTBUs having known attributes, including their locations (e.g., Cartesiancoordinates) and roles (e.g. the reference point at the left bottomcorner of the projected boundary 1310) (see, e.g., Steps 1551-1552).

In this embodiment 10, as stated above and shown in FIGS. 4-5, thedistances between the mobile device 1100 and each of the TBUs 1200 canbe determined based on the respective response time of non-visible RFsignals (with identifying information) from the TBUs 1200 in anycorresponding communications—beginning from the time the mobile device1100 transmitting any inquiry/response in a non-visible RF signal to aTBU 1200 to the time it receives a reply/inquiry in the non-visible RFsignal from the TBU 1200 (assuming that the processing time can beignored). Furthermore, the directions of the TBUs 1200 relative to themobile device 1100 (i.e. the angles between a line formed by a TBU 1200and the mobile device 1100 and the axes of a reference coordinatesystem) can be determined based on the directions of the non-visible RFsignals that reach the mobile device 1100 first. Since thelocations/coordinates of the TBUs 1200 are predetermined, thedistance/angles between each pair of the TBUs 1200 are thus known, andthe distances/angles between the mobile device 1100 and the TBUs 1200are determined by response time, the location of the mobile device 1100can be determined by trilateration and/or triangulation.

In addition, as illustrated in FIGS. 2-6, according to the predetermined“roles” of the TBUs 1200, TBUs 1200 a, 1200 b, 1200 c, 1200 d, and 1200e are located at the bottom edge of the projected boundary 1310 of thestage 1300, and TBUs 1200 b, 1200 c, 1200 d, and 1200 f are located atthe peripheral of the rectangular cut-out area 1320 of the stage 1300.In this embodiment 10, at least the shape and height 1312 of theprojected boundary 1310 and the shape (a rectangle) of the projectedcut-out area 1320 are predetermined and provided to the mobile device1100 as attributes of the stage 1300.

In Step 1553 of the AR Rendering Module 1130, as the projected boundary1310 being a 2D rectangle standing vertically (such information storedand provided by the stage 1300 in this embodiment 10, as the attributesof the AR element), the TBUs 1200 a & 1200 e being at the oppositebottom corner (such information stored and provided by the TBUs 1200),the width 1311 of the projected boundary 1310 can be determined (i.e.the distance between TBUs 1200 a and 1200 e) and the locations of theother two corners and the area of the projected boundary 1310 can bedetermined as well. Additionally, with the distances and angles betweenthe mobile device 1100 and the TBUs 1200 s determined as illustratedabove and the relative orientation of the stage 1300 determined, basedon the orientation of the mobile device 1100 (provided by theaccelerometer 1160 and the stage 1300) and that of the stage 1300(provided by the stage 1300), the boundary 1310′ of the stage image1300′ of the stage 1300 in the AR image can be determined.

Similarly, as the cut-out area 1320 being a 2D rectangle standingvertically, the TBUs 1200 b and 1200 d at the opposite bottom corners,and the height of the cut-out area 1320 being the distance between theTBUs 1200 c and 1200 f, the width, height, the corners, and the wholeprojected cut-out area 1320, as well as the cut-out area 1320′ of thestage image 1300′ of the stage 1300 in the AR image, can be determinedaccordingly. With the boundary 1310′ and the cut-out-area 1320′determined, the AR Rendering Module 1130 is further configured todisplay/superimpose the pre-determined AR effect of the stage 1300 inthe boundary 1310′ while not affecting/blocking the portion of stageimage 1300′ in the cut-out area 1320′ (see, e.g., Step 1555 & FIG. 3).In FIG. 3, the AR effect 1300 is two real-time videos streamed from aremote server (not shown). In a different embodiment, or in theembodiment 10 at a different time, the AR effect of the stage 1300 canbe a flaming skull as in FIG. 1, another still image, or otheranimations.

FIG. 7 shows an alternate embodiment 20 that comprises a mobile device2100 (a cell phone here), and TBUs 2200 located around a guitar 2300 andconfigured to depict the projected cut-out area 2320. In this embodiment20, the mobile device 2100 obtains the information about the projectedboundary 2310 from the guitar 2300. For instance, the shape of theprojected boundary 2310 can be determined by the relative distancesbetween the projected boundary 2320 and the TBUs 2200, or the projectedboundary 2310 can be as simple as at least one rectangular prism withpredetermined distances from some or all of the TBUs 2200 (e.g. 2200 aand 2200 f only as in FIGS. 7; 2200 a, 2200 e, 2200 f, 2200 h, 2200 g,2200 i, and 2200 j; or all of the TBUs 2200 a-j).

Since the AR effect of an LARI-type object is superimposed, depending onthe implementation and the AR effect associated with the object, whenthe AR effect is somewhat translucent or only takes some portions of theboundary, as shown in FIG. 7, the boundary can be as big as it needs toaccommodate different types of AR effects of the same AR element 2340.

FIGS. 8-9 shows alternate embodiments 30 & 40 with different ways todetermine the relative locations of objects. In embodiment 30, themobile device 3100 is configured to locate object C by reference toobjects A and B with known locations in a 2-dimensional referencecoordinate system. That is, the mobile device 3100 is configured tofirst determine the relative locations/coordinates of A and B by findingthe coordinate of the mobile device 3100 in the reference coordinatesystem by trilateration and triangulation with A and B and subtractingthe coordinates. Then, the mobile device 3100 is configured to determinethe relative location of object C by trilateration and triangulationwith A.

In embodiment 40, the mobile device 4100 is configured to determine therelative location of object A by referring to the radio beacon stations4200 in a grid of known locations. In this embodiment 40, object A isconfigured to determine its own location by referring to the radiobeacon stations 4200 and provide its coordinates to the mobile device4100. With the coordinates of the mobile device 4100 determined in asimilar way and those of object A known, the mobile device 4100 cansimply subtract the coordinates to determine the relative location ofobject A. Alternatively, if object A is not configured to provide itslocation, the mobile device 4100 is further configured to refer to aradio beacon station 4200 and use trilateration and/or triangulation todetermine the coordinates of object A.

Furthermore, in an embodiment, the mobile device may be configured toscan, register, and track multiple objects at the same time. Forinstance, the mobile device 5100 of embodiment 50 in FIGS. 10-19 isconfigured to scan and register up to 5 objects in a batch and displaysome pre-authorized information (e.g., the name, status, links to socialmedia profiles, and so forth) associated with each object. An exemplaryenvironment of this embodiment 50 is a convention where professionalsmeet up and exchange information. Each of the participants is given abadge 5200 configured to provide basic information of the participant(e.g., the name, resident city, state, and/or country, employmentinformation, the ID of the participant's social media profile(s), and soforth) for a mobile device 5100 to display in a thought bubble with thisinformation above the participant's head on the display 5110.Alternatively, the badge 5200 may provide a unique ID for the mobiledevice 5100 to obtain the information of a participant that theparticipant previously provided and stored at a remote server 5400.

In such embodiment 50, the mobile device 5100 is configured to startscanning from the left to the right (or alternatively from west to eastor vice versa), as shown in FIGS. 12-19. Among the objects/badges 5200in the visual scan area 5300 responding to the inquiry non-visible RFsignals, the first 5 badges 5200 (i.e., 5200 a-e) that the mobile device5100 registers are those respond from its left, then the mobile device5100 goes on to register the next batch of 5 badges 5200 (i.e., 5200f-h), and so on, until there is no more badges 5200 unregistered in thevisual scan area 5300. After the badges 5200 in the visual scan area5300 are registered, the mobile device 5100 is further configured torender and display the AR elements 5210 associated with the registeredbadges 5200 near the badges 5200 (e.g., 3 feet above the badges 5200).

As stated above, the AR element 5210 associated with the badge 5200 of aparticipant in this embodiment 50 is a thought bubble with theparticipant's name, title, role/category, employment information, one ormore of the IDs of the participant's social media profiles, and/or thecity, state/province, and country of the participant. In an alternateembodiment, the AR element may include a text, an image, an animation, avideo, a URL, and/or various combinations thereof. Furthermore, theinformation to be displayed in an AR element in an embodiment, and itspresentation, may be predetermined by the embodiment or customized bythe participant and/or the user of the mobile device. For instance, theshapes of each thought bubble 5210 in this embodiment 50 may be chosenby the participant. Alternatively, the user of the mobile device in anembodiment may decide that what colors of the AR elements are based onthe titles, roles, or resident regions/countries of the participants.

Additionally, the mobile device 5100 is preferably further configured torescan the badges 5200 in the visual scan area 5300 periodically (e.g.,every 0.1-0.5 seconds) and make sure that registry of the badges 5200(Record_(5200a)-Record_(5200h)), including the location of each badge5200 and the information associated with it, is up to date. That is, ifthe user moves the mobile device 5100 away or turns the mobile device5100 to a different direction or some participants wearing the badges5200 move out of the visual scan area 5300, the mobile device 5100 isconfigured to determine that all or some of the badges 5200 originallyregistered are no longer in the visual scan area 5300 and/or some badges5200 newly appear in the visual scan area 5300, and update the registry,as well as the AR image, accordingly.

Moreover, the mobile device of an embodiment may be further configuredto interact with the objects found (or more specifically, for the userof the mobile device to interact with the persons or things associatedwith the objects through social media, messaging, etc.). FIGS. 20-21show an exemplary embodiment 60 with a mobile device 6100 configured toscan, register, and track one or more objects 6200 (e.g., RF tags)within the vicinity of the mobile device 6100 in a convention anddisplay the AR element(s) 6210 associated with each of the objects 6200on its display. Here, the AR element 6210 may include a background, ashort text, an emoji, a logo with a URL link to an associated socialmedia profile, and so forth, and a participant 6300 may be allowed toselect what and how to show at his/her AR element 6210 (see, e.g.,various AR element templates or samples in FIG. 22).

In this embodiment 60, the mobile device 60 is further configured toprovide a user interface 6110, as a part of the AR image 6120, to allowthe user of the mobile device 6100 to select an AR element 6210 (i.e.,by checking 6111 “Select Bubble” and clicking on a certain AR element6210), to interact with the participant 6300 associated with theselected AR element 6210 by following (6112), commenting (6113), liking(6114), or sending a message (6115) to the participant 6300 on socialmedia. If the user of the mobile device 6100 specifically wants to findthe employees of a certain company or the participants from a certainmarket (e.g., a targeted buyer of the user's products), the mobiledevice 6100 may be further configured to include a discriminator or afilter on the user interface 6110 (e.g., by checking 6116 and enteringthe criteria in 6117) to show only the AR elements 6210 of theparticipants 6300 that the user wants to see.

Additionally, it is preferred that while the AR element 6210 may have adefault location relative to the associated object 6200, e.g. rightabove the object 6200, the mobile device 6100 is configured to arrangemultiple AR elements 6210 to avoid overlapping. As shown in FIG. 21, theAR elements 6210 are anchored to the associated objects 6200 while beingat the same height above the floor and arranged to avoid overlapping.Alternatively, the mobile device 6100 may be configured to adjust theheight of an AR element 6210 based on the location of the object 6210.For instance, in FIG. 23, the bottom of the AR element 6210 is H inchesabove the object 6210. Alternatively, another embodiment may beconfigured to display the AR element in a location relative to theperson/thing bearing the object. For instance, if an AR element is to bedisplayed above a person's right shoulder, the mobile device may beconfigured to first scan the person's image and determine where theright shoulder is. The technologies of such image processing are knownin the art and thus omitted from discussion here.

As stated above, a mobile device in an embodiment may scan, register,and track objects nearby even though they are not in the visual scanarea. As shown in FIG. 24, the mobile device 6100 of the embodiment 60is configured to detect and track all objects 6200 within the range ofnonvisible RF signals 6600, including the visual scan area 6120. Anembodiment may additionally include a search function to locate anobject not within the vicinity of the mobile device via an interlacedsearching system. In FIG. 25, when the mobile device 7100 determinesthat the object 7200 a is not nearby, the mobile device 7100 isconfigured to broadcast a search request using non-visible RF signalsfor other objects 7200 in the vicinity (e.g., 7200 b, 7200 c, and 7200 din this example) to try to locate the object 7200 a in their respectiveRF signal ranges 7210. This sequence of broadcastings stops when theobject 7200 d finally hears back from the object 7200 a. Then either theobjects 7200 b-d are configured to report to the object from which itreceives the search request until the location of the object 7200 a isfinally provided to the mobile device 7100, or the object 7200 a may beconfigured to communicate directly with the mobile device 7100 via othermeans, such as sending a message through a remote server.

FIGS. 26-29 show another embodiment 80 for recovering lost properties,such as bicycles, televisions, cell phones, computers, furniture,automobiles, and so forth. This embodiment 80 may comprise a mobiledevice 8100 configured to identify one or more objects/tags 8200attached to the properties 8220 that might be hidden from view, bycommunicating with the tags 8200 via long range non-visible RF signals.Once a tag 8200 is identified, the mobile device 8100 is furtherconfigured to request the AR element 8100 of each of the identified tags8200 from a remote database 8300, and then render and display the ARelements 8210. The remote database 8300 may be maintained by the policedepartment or a private entity that charges certain subscription feesand are preferably accessible only to the authorized police officers orprivate investigators.

Alternatively, the mobile device 8100 in this embodiment 80 may includea list of lost properties 8300 in its memory and is configured to try tolocate and render the AR elements 8210 of only the objects 8200 in thelist 8300. Either way, the tags 8200 in this embodiment 80 arepreferably long-distance tags, such as battery-powered active RFIDs orGPS trackers, so that the mobile device 8100 may easily locate the lostproperties 8220 bearing the tags 8200 within a reasonable distance,preferably no less than 160 feet.

FIGS. 30A-C shows another embodiment 90 for locating victims in variousrescue scenarios. The embodiment 90 comprises a mobile device 9100configured to locate one or more victims wearing long distance trackers9200 and render AR element 9210 associated with the victims. Like thetags 8200 in the embodiment 80, the trackers 9200 are preferably capableof communicating with the mobile device 9100 via long distancenon-visible RF signals that can pass through obstacles such as concretewalls, rocks, water, and so forth.

The AR element 9210 in this embodiment 90 can be as simple as an arrowpointing to the associated tracker 9200, i.e. the victim bearing thetracker 9200, or further include other types of AR effects, such as aLARI AR effect as a circular frame enclosing the location of the victim(not shown). If the tracker 9200 is configured to track not only thelocation but also the health markers of the person wearing the tracker9200, the AR element 9210 may further show whether the victim is in acritical condition or not so that the rescue team can prioritize itsrescuing efforts.

FIGS. 31A-C shows an alternate embodiment A0 for monitoring the patientsin a hospital or a nursing home. In this embodiment A0, the doctors,nurses, or other medical staff A400 of the hospital or nursing home canuse a mobile device A100 to identify a patient A300 wearing a tag A200and from this tag A200, obtain the medical history of this patient A300that is displayed on the mobile device A100. In this embodiment A0, eachtag A200 has a unique ID and preferably some basic information of thepatient A300 wearing it, such as the name, gender, photo, and age of thepatient A300. As in the embodiments illustrated above, the mobile deviceA100 in this embodiment A0 is configured to identify and track thepatients' tags A200 via non-visible RF signals and render the AR elementA210 associated with each patient A300 above his/her head in the ARimage A110.

The AR element A210 in this embodiment A0, as shown in FIG. 31A,includes the name, reason of hospitalization, and headshot of thepatient A300, which may be stored at the tag A200 or a remote database.Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 31B, the mobile device A100 is configuredto show the complete medical history A111 of a patient A300 when a userof the mobile device selects a specific patient A300 by clicking nearthe tag A200 on the display of the mobile device A100.

Another embodiment B0 for tracking every person in a hospital, nursinghome, prison, or military base for surveillance purposes is shown inFIG. 32. In this embodiment B0, everyone who enters the hospital isrequired to wear a tag B200 that is tracked by a surveillance systemincluding a mobile device B100, via non-visible RF signals. The mobiledevice B100 may be configured to obtain the location of each tag B200 inthe facility by any of the aforementioned methods: by trilaterationand/or triangulation or by reference to a real-time locating server, abeacon system B300, a GPS service, or any suitable geolocation services.Alternatively, a server may be configured to track the tags B200 in thefacility and provided the location of each tag B200 to the mobile deviceB100 in real time. As shown in FIG. 32, the mobile device B100 isconfigured to show a floor map of the facility with a symbolrepresenting each person and configured to move if the person moves.Additionally, the mobile device B100 is configured to show a bubble B210anchored to the symbol of each person, the bubble B210 encircling aunique ID of the person.

While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments,numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by thoseordinarily skilled in the art without departing from the score andspirit disclosed herein. For instance, the non-visible RF signals usedin an embodiment may vary based on the environment, such as the size ofthe concert stadium. The numbers of TBUs needed for different LARI ARelements may be different based on the different properties, such theshapes, of the LARI AR elements.

1. A method for rendering an Augmented Reality (AR) image on a displayof a mobile device with one or more objects detected by radio frequencysignals, excluding visible spectrum frequencies, (“non-visible RFsignals”), the method comprising the steps of: (1) repeatedly detectingand registering the objects located within a vicinity of the mobiledevice, by one or more sensors of the mobile device communicating withthe objects by the non-visible RF signals; (2) repeatedly tracking arelative location of each of the objects located within a vicinity ofthe mobile device, relative to the mobile device; (3) generating in realtime an AR element of each of the objects with an AR type asLarge-AR-Image (LARI) and located inside a visual scan area by: (a)determining a boundary of the AR element, the boundary configured tosurround a real-world image of the object; (b) determining a cut-outarea within the boundary, the cut-out area configured to show apredetermined portion of the real-world image of the object, and (c)rendering an AR effect within the boundary, excluding the cut-out area,the AR effect scaled and oriented based on the relative location and anorientation of the object; and (4) displaying the AR image rendered withthe AR element anchored to each of the objects located inside the visualscan area.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the cut-out area isdetermined based on: (1) a distance between the mobile device and eachof multiple transmission broadcast units (“TBUs”) locate along aperipheral of a projected cut-out area, the distance determined based ona response time for each TBU to respond to the mobile device via thenon-visible RF signals and in a sequence of the TBUs; and (2) a distancebetween each pair of consecutive TBUs.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinthe cut-out area is determined based on: (1) a predetermined shape ofthe cut-out area; (2) predetermined locations of multiple transmissionbroadcast units (“TBUs”) relative to a projected cut-out area; (3) adistance between the mobile device and each TBU determined based on aresponse time for each TBU to respond to the mobile device via thenon-visible RF signals; and (4) a distance between each pair of theTBUs.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the boundary is determined basedon: (1) a predetermined shape of the boundary; (2) predeterminedlocations of multiple transmission broadcast units (“TBUs”) relative toa projected boundary; (3) a distance between the mobile device and eachTBUs determined in real time based on a response time for each TBU torespond to the mobile device via the non-visible RF signals; and (4) adistance between each pair of the TBUs.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the boundary is determined based on: (1) a predetermined shapeof the boundary; (2) locations of multiple transmission broadcast units(“TBUs”) relative to a projected boundary; (3) a distance between themobile device and each TBUs determined in real time based on a responsetime for each TBU to respond to the mobile device via the non-visible RFsignals; and (4) a distance between each pair of the TBUs.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the step of detecting and registering the one ormore objects further comprises the steps of: (1) simultaneously scanningand registering a batch of the one or more objects located within thevicinity of the mobile device, by the one or more sensors: (a)broadcasting a single request of a unique identification (ID) by thenon-visible RF signals, (b) receiving an ID of each of the one or moreobjects by the non-visible RF signals, and (c) if the ID of an object isnot registered in a storage component of the mobile device, includingthe object as a member object of the batch until reaching apredetermined size of the batch; and (2) register each member object ofthe batch by saving the ID and the relative location of the memberobject to the storage component.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein if areference object selected from the objects, other than a member objectin the batch, exists, the object detecting module is further configuredto repeatedly determine the relative location of the member object byperforming triangulation with a reference to the reference object basedon: (1) a distance between the mobile device and the member objectdetermined in real time based on a response time for the member objectto respond to the mobile device via the non-visible RF signals; (2) adistance between the mobile device and the reference object determinedin real time based on a response time for the reference object torespond to the mobile device via the non-visible RF signals; and (3) adistance between the reference object and the member object, provided bythe reference object, determined in real time based on a response timefor the member object to respond to the reference object via thenon-visible RF signals.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the trackingmodule is further configured to remove a registered object from thestorage component if the relative location of the registered object hasbeen outside the visual scan area for at least a predetermined period oftime.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the AR element of each of theobjects is generated and displayed only if one or more attributes ofeach of the objects, retrieved directly from each of the objects via thenon-visible RF signals, meet one or more user input criteria.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the AR element of each of the objects in thevisual scan area is generated based on one or more attributes of each ofthe objects, retrieved from a source selected from each of the objects,one or more social media profiles associated with each of the objects,and combinations thereof.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the ARelement of each of the objects in the visual scan area is generatedfurther based on a timing associated with the attributes of each of theobjects.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the AR element of each ofthe objects in the visual scan area is anchored to each of the objectsbased on one or more attributes of each of the objects.
 13. The methodof claim 1, wherein the AR element of each of the objects is scaled andoriented based on the relative location and an orientation of each ofthe objects.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual scan area isdetermined based on a field of view of a camera of the mobile device andthe non-visible RF signals.
 15. A system for rendering an AugmentedReality (AR) image, comprising a mobile device including: (1) a display;(2) one or more sensors of radio frequency signals, excluding visiblespectrum frequencies (“non-visible RF signals”); (3) an objectregistering module configured to repeatedly detect and register one ormore objects located within a vicinity of the mobile device, by thesensors communicating with the objects by the non-visible RF signals;(4) an object tracking module configured repeatedly track a relativelocation of each of the objects located within a vicinity of the mobiledevice; and (5) an AR rendering module configured to: (a) generate inreal time an AR element of each of the objects with an AR type asLarge-AR-Image (LARI) and located inside a visual scan area by: A.determining a boundary of the AR element, the boundary configured tosurround a real-world image of the object; B. determining a cut-out areawithin the boundary, the cut-out area configured to show a predeterminedportion of the real-world image of the object, and C. rendering an AReffect within the boundary, excluding the cut-out area, the AR effectscaled and oriented based on the relative location and an orientation ofthe object, and (b) display the AR image rendered with the AR elementanchored to each of the objects located inside the visual scan area. 16.The system of claim 15, wherein the cut-out area is determined based on:(1) a distance between the mobile device and each of multipletransmission broadcast units (“TBUs”) locate along a peripheral of aprojected cut-out area, the distance determined based on a response timefor each TBU to respond to the mobile device via the non-visible RFsignals and in a sequence of the TBUs; and (2) a distance between eachpair of consecutive TBUs.
 17. The system of claim 15, wherein thecut-out area is determined based on: (1) a predetermined shape of thecut-out area; (2) predetermined locations of multiple transmissionbroadcast units (“TBUs”) relative to a projected cut-out area; (3) adistance between the mobile device and each TBU determined based on aresponse time for each TBU to respond to the mobile device via thenon-visible RF signals; and (4) a distance between each pair of theTBUs.
 18. The system of claim 15, wherein the boundary is determinedbased on: (1) a predetermined shape of the boundary; (2) predeterminedlocations of multiple transmission broadcast units (“TBUs”) relative toa projected boundary; (3) a distance between the mobile device and eachTBUs determined in real time based on a response time for each TBU torespond to the mobile device via the non-visible RF signals; and (4) adistance between each pair of the TBUs.
 19. The system of claim 15,wherein the boundary is determined based on: (1) a predetermined shapeof the boundary; (2) locations of multiple transmission broadcast units(“TBUs”) relative to a projected boundary; (3) a distance between themobile device and each TBUs determined in real time based on a responsetime for each TBU to respond to the mobile device via the non-visible RFsignals; and (4) a distance between each pair of the TBUs.
 20. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the AR rendering module is furtherconfigured to generate and display the AR element of each of the objectsonly if one or more attributes of each of the objects, retrieveddirectly from each of the objects via the non-visible RF signals, meetone or more user input criteria.